Kit Kemp
INTERIOR DESIGNER & FOUNDER OF
FIRMDALE HOTELS (1956 - present)
Kemp first kicked off her career working for a
Polish architect, Leszek Nowicki. Though
soon met her husband Tim kemp during the
80s both saw the potential to move into the
hospitality industry. Their first establishment
opened in 1985 and continuing with opening
boutique hotels now owning ten properties
eight in London and two in New York,
transforming carparks and abandoned
warehouses into luxury stays for their guests.
In 2007 both kemp and her husband were
awarded with Crown Estate's Urban Business
Award for the regeneration of Haymarket
Hotel.
Jeanne Baret
VOYAGER (1740 - 1807)
The French Navy may have banned women
from its ships in 1766, but that didn't stop
Jeanne Baret from doing what she dreamed
of-exploring the world in search of new
plants. Baret disguised herself as his male
valet and assistant. For two years Jeanne
bound her chest beneath her sailor's clothing
and traveled alongside 300 men who all knew
her as "Jean." Her vast botanical knowledge.
Baret was involved with collecting more than
6,000 plant specimens on the voyage,
including her greatest find in Brazil:
Bougainvillea, the spectacular pink vine she
named in honor of their captain. Jeanne never
set out to circumnavigate the globe. She just
wanted to follow her passion and curiosity for
plants. But on her return to France in 1774,
after being uncovered as a woman, she
became the first female to achieve the feat.
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